A Unique Decade in American History

It sounds like an improbable movie script–the only known copy of a very old silent movie is discovered by a carpenter in a barn in New Hampshire. But it’s true. The 1911 film starred Mary Pickford and her first husband, Owen Moore, a handsome alcoholic who was soon to be eclipsed by his wife’s fame and divorced for Douglas Fairbanks.

The Library of Congress has restored “Their First Misunderstanding.” The film is 10 minutes long–typical in that era before feature-length films were made. The first minute was missing, but the rest was in good condition, considering its age and where it had been stored for the past few decades. One film historian said that 90 percent of all films made before 1930 are gone, so this addition is a treasure. It seems that the barn was once part of a summer camp for boys, and the theory is that the film was something shown to the campers for entertainment.